TUNIS, Dec 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Tunisian opposition figure Jawhar Ben Mbarek, sentenced to 20 years in jail for his part in an alleged anti-government plot, said Monday that he had suspended a month-long hunger strike.

In a message posted on social media by his sister, the lawyer Dalila Mssadek, the 57-year-old said two recent civil society rallies had proved that "the living democratic street" was defending the rights of political prisoners and he could thus pause his own 33-day protest.

Ben Mbarek, co-founder of Tunisia's opposition coalition the National Salvation Front (FSN), was among almost 40 defendants, many of them critics of President Kais Saied, jailed on Friday for "conspiracy against state security".

The United Nations and rights groups have criticised the trial, and the charges were mainly based on accusations of meeting with foreign diplomats. Defendants were convicted in April and last week jailed for terms of up to 45 years.

Most of the detainees were arrested in a crackdown on the opposition in 2023, after Saied labelled them "terrorists".

According to his father, veteran opposition leftist Ezzeddine Hazgui, Ben Mbarek was hospitalised eight times during his protest against what he regards as his arbitrary and unjust detention.

He refused all food and accepted only a little water, according to his family and lawyers, who have also complained of alleged "torture" and beatings at the hands of his jailers.

In 2021, Saied staged a sweeping power grab, and both Tunisian and international human rights groups have since criticised a major rollback on freedoms.